Tuesday, June 8, 2010

And who is funding this?

Yesterday I saw a really strange poster in Westminster tube station. There was a picture of a pretty smiling young lady who might have been advertising absolutely anything from car insurance to P&O ferries. Actually, I realized as I went past it, she was advertising Mohammed the twenty-first century PC greenie guy. Yes, that Mohammed who seems to have been transmogrified.

The pretty smiling young lady was telling us (well, me, as nobody else seemed to care) that she cared about the environment and so did Muhammad (that is how we are expected to spell his name now for reasons I find hard to understand). Really? A new one on me. No evidence was provided for this astounding statement.

This is all part of a large poster campaign, launched by an organization called Exploring Islam Foundation and backed by the various taxpayer-funded Muslim organizations. As Douglas Murray tells us in the Telegraph, the posters are full of interesting information none of us ever knew. For instance, who knew that Muhammad believed in women's rights? So says another pretty smiling young lady, this time in a headscarf, who is, apparently a lawyer. Well, if she is a lawyer she ought to know about the importance of evidence but apparently she was not taught that in her law studies.

The Inspired by Muhammad Campaign aims to counteract certain views held by a strangely large section of the population about Islam and Muslims. According to a YouGove poll the site quotes:

■58% associate Islam with extremism■50% associate Islam with terrorism■Just 13% associate Islam with peace■6% associate Islam with justice■Only 16% think that Islam promotes fairness and equality■Only 6% believe that Islam promotes active measures to protect the environment■41% disagree or strongly disagree that Muslims have a positive impact on British society■69% believe that Islam encourages the repression of women

As Douglas Murray says:

Now how on earth could this be? Surely these figures must demonstrate the existence of an anti-Islamic plot! Or it is it perhaps because Islam is indeed very strongly associated with extremism, violence and the repression of women, as an observer of any Islamic society can see?

Inevitably, one asks oneself who is funding this campaign and could a few cuts be administered to such organizations. For instance, are they paying the market rate for the advertising space they occupy? Who is funding the Foundation behind the campaign? They give no clear responses to that question, providing no direct information anywhere and merely answering in a somewhat off-hand manner a frequently asked question (you bet it is frequently asked):

How is EIF funded?EIF is a not for profit initiative and is funded by private donations.

That's it? I think I should like to know a little more. These media campaigns are expensive and they are planning many.